Collegiate Perfection
by aurelia waters
Summary: Hermione goes off to University in Berlin. There, she tries to fit in and make her new surroundings feel like home when Fred Weasley shows up. I rated it T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I don't own Fred, Hermione, or anything else that's J. K. Rowling's

**Chapter 1**

"Number 348!" A woman with a severe bun called.

Hermione stepped up to her desk.

"That's me! I'm in the transfiguration major so I need to sign up for classes that go with that."

"Okay, here are your classes, you're all signed up." The woman said without even looking up. "Number 349!"

Hermione looked down at her schedule as she pushed through the crowd and out the door. She didn't bother to even look up because she knew that she wouldn't know anyone anyway. It was a bit lonely to think that she was attending Berlin Wizarding University, the biggest wizard school in Europe, yet she didn't even know a soul.

As she walked through the doors of the building, she looked through her list. "Let's see…I need to get robes …cleaning supplies…groceries…"

"Hey Hermione! What are you doing here?" She was interrupted by the least likely person to be found in a University…Fred Weasley.

"Huh? What do you mean what am I doing here? I go here now, what are you doing?" Well that was a dumb thing to say, but she couldn't change that now.

"Well, Professor Lasik of the Charms department is doing an experiment for our store. He had some money to invest in some research for new products and we thought we should only use the best."

"That's great!" Hermione said, truly happy to see someone she knew for a first time since she got here.

Fred didn't know what to make of so much enthusiasm from this calm bookworm, but for some reason, it seemed to fit her. "Would you like to go to lunch with me and catch up on what's going on back home?" He asked, knowing that her behavior probably stemmed from being away from her two best friends and everything she has known for the past seven years.

"Yeah, that would be great; I have a few more things to do before then so is there a time and place that I could meet you?" She didn't want to sound too desperate for company.

"Sure, we'll meet up in two hours at this place." He said as he conjured a restaurant matchbook with his wand.

Hermione didn't realize how lonely she actually was until Fred Weasley caught up with her. She had been in Berlin for a little over a month and she hadn't communicated with anyone from back home for a couple of weeks. It's not that she was avoiding anyone; she just got busy and wanted to work on starting a life here. She knew she would be here for at least six years (maybe longer) so she was determined to make this place feel as much like home as Hogwarts. Outside of her roommate, Lori, she had made a few friends, but it would take more than a month to build deep friendships that compared to the ones with Harry, Ron and the rest of the Weasley family.

"Here's the lady of the hour!" Fred said jovially as he brought her out of her reverie. He held the door for her and bowed comically as she walked up to him.

"How did you ever find an English Pub in Berlin?" She demanded playfully.

"I come here sometimes when I'm staying for a long period of time and I get homesick."

His honesty caught her off guard.

"The people here are really nice, I thought you could use a dose of home and maybe make friends with some other transplants."

"Thank you, that's very thoughtful," she replied, "But before I meet new people, catch me up on what's happened since I left."

He guided her to a booth in the back that would give them the privacy they needed. "Well, I'm sure you've heard the big news already. Harry and Ginny are now dating now that Voldemort is dead."

"Yeah, I kind of figured when Ginny stopped informing me on every little thing that Harry said to her in her letters. I haven't heard from anyone in two weeks so it must have happened around then?"

"Yeah, Mum is excited about it. I think she already has their whole wedding planned out in her head. She's so happy that she hasn't bothered me or George about being our own test subjects for our new products."

Hermione laughed as she imagined the twins with black eyes just like the one she had when one of their experiments backfired on her. She changed the subject "So how are Harry and Ron doing with the auror training?"

"Great! They come home tired every night, but both of them seemed to have taken to that lifestyle of danger and excitement. I think they miss not having you in on their plans, but they also understand that you belong here."

Hermione smiled. She was happy knowing that her two best friends were doing what they wanted to do. She listened contentedly as Fred described what was going on with the rest of the Weasley family. Ginny was going back for her final year at Hogwarts. She wasn't happy about leaving Harry, but she knew that it would be best for his training if she wasn't distracting him. Besides the research, Fred and George were planning to go international and open stores up around Europe. Their first venture was going to be right here in Berlin since some of their research was being performed here at the university and they had to travel here anyway. Percy was still as annoying as ever and hardly came. His excuse was being buried in work.

As Fred continued to fill Hermione in, a tall lanky boy walked up to the table.

"So Fred, who are you hiding from us?" the brown haired boy jokingly asked.

"Hermione, this is Adam." Fred said with a little hesitation. "Adam here is one of Prof. Lasik's research assistants. He's helping with our research."

"Nice to meet you." She said

"Ah, it's good to meet another British transplant!" he exclaimed. "This is my second year, but I still miss England. It is nice to meet you too. You should meet the rest of the regulars. I'll help you get acquainted."

Adam waved her to the bar and shouted, "Hey everyone, we have a fellow British citizen with us. I want you all to meet Hermione. She's going to the University here." He leaned down and whispered, "for what?"

"Transfiguration" She stated.

He raised his head up "She's going to be the next great transfiguration expert!" Everyone laughed as she turned a red and glanced over at Fred. He just shrugged his shoulders and grinned back at her.

That night, Hermione met many people. They all were very nice and helpful. She knew she would be coming back here and these people would be good friends. Of the group, Adam and his friend Dory would be the closest. Dory was a girl from Ireland who loved books just has much as Hermione did. Her long blond bouncy hair and twinkling eyes gave away the adventurous side of her that Hermione knew would keep her on her toes. The two girls had already planned to go to explore the city together since this was both their first years here and neither had seen much of Berlin yet.

Fred walked her home that night since it was such a nice night and they both wanted to stay in each other's company a little longer.

"I'm so glad I got to see you, it's too bad I'm going back to the burrow tomorrow after my last meeting."

"Fred, you don't know how great this has been for me. I was starting to get homesick and overwhelmed when you show up and make everything better. I really appreciate your company."

"I'm glad I could be of service." He said as he bowed and saluted mockingly

She giggled as they reached her door.

Hermione went to bed that night content. This was the first time since she had moved here that she really felt at home. Was it because Fred reminded her of everyone or because she was starting to make some connections? She didn't know, but she was certainly glad to have bumped into Fred that day.

**A/n: Hi everyone. This is my first story for this website. I know I'm a little weak on character development and on making the characters that already exist more believable. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them. I hope that Fred was okay. I figured he may have matured enough by now that he would be more serious since Hermione really didn't need a joker, but a friend.**

**Thanks for reading, I hope you have some good constructive criticism for me.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A man sits with his back to the door. Bits of conversation swirl around him while he hunches over his butter beer. A dusty corner in the British pub is a perfect place to escape from prying eyes. As he sipped, he finished reading the letter before him.

…_HG is important to our plan. She is the key to getting to the other two. These three have defied the Dark Lord and they must pay for their actions. Make sure you stay close to her and report her actions as often as possible. When the time comes, you need to be in position to take action._

He slipped the note into his back pocket and continued to nurse his drink.

He saw two familiar girls enter the pub, his appearance changed to that of an old man. Much to his luck, they chose to sit in the empty booth behind him.

"Oh my, I'm so tired. I think you've worn me out properly, Dory."

"Yeah, right, you know you were just as excited as I was to go to that ancient world and antiquities museum. After witnessing how big your eyes got when we entered, you can't tell me I dragged you there."

"That may be so, but I sure don't have the endurance you do."

The blond ordered two butterbeers for them as the brunette propped her head in her hands and stared into nowhere.

"Hermione? Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure, you know you can ask me anything." She said as the waitress came back with their order.

Dory got straight to the point. "What is going on with you and Adam? I thought he had a girlfriend back home, but you almost spend as much time with him as you do me."

"I honestly don't know. He hasn't mentioned anything about his girlfriend to me, yet it seems like we're becoming really close. It's really strange to me. I'm used to knowing straight up if I'm dating someone or not, but he's really good at not defining the relationship and yet still having all the liberties of a boyfriend."

Dory held her hands over her mouth. "Does this mean you two are an item? I thought maybe it was just a relationship in the making, I didn't think it had gone that far."

"I don't know what we are." Hermione had a pained look on her face. "He acts like we are close when we are alone, yet as soon as someone enters the room we're just best buddies. I feel so good when I'm around him, yet I'm so confused by his actions. Somehow I've allowed him to have all the control over this relationship just because I'm afraid to find out if he has a girlfriend."

"Hermione, that doesn't sound good. He seems like such a nice guy to me, yet it doesn't sound like he's treating you very well. Maybe it's time you two had a talk."

"I wouldn't know where to begin. Nothing has been outwardly spoken relationship wise. He could deny the whole thing and just say something about thinking we were just really close friends. I don't think it would do any good. I think I'm just going to ride this one out for awhile longer."

"Okay, whatever you say. I'm really worried about you. I've seen how you aren't eating and I don't like it that this guy is so slippery."

"Don't worry, Dory, I'm just nervous. I just don't want to be that other girl who stole away someone's man. It'll go away when things get straightened out. It's already been two months; he can't act like this forever."

"He better not…"

Dory walked away as Hermione's eyes suddenly widened.

"Fred! Where have you been? I haven't seen you in months!"

"Oh just caught up in a bit of a tricky situation with the business. I used to be the one making all the messing for others to clean up, and now it seems to be the other way around. It's not my fault that people have been misusing my products. Anyway, enough about me and my silly company, how's life?"

"Better now that you're around. How's everything back home?"

"Oh the usual…people keep trying to force out of us where my little brother and Harry are, but we always seem to manage to outsmart them."

"Thank goodness you haven't gotten into any trouble over those two."

"If this is the kind of trouble they give me, I can't imagine what you go though." His eyes narrowed in concern. "Be careful, Hermione. They mean business."

She mildly smiled. "I know. That's one of the reasons I came here. Luckily things have calmed down for me."

Fred stood up and held out his hand, "I'm hungry, let's go get a bite to eat."


End file.
